Seminar Series 11: Lecture 2 - Byron Vincent

In a powerful, personal talk, Byron tells the story of his own childhood on a troubled housing estate, of how his surroundings shaped him, and of the choices he felt forced to make. Faced with similar circumstances he asks who can say they would make different choices. Byron explores the moral consequences of this for the rest of our society.

Byron also has a duel diagnosis of bipolar disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and has spent most of his life as a patient of the Mental Health Service. He will be offering an honest account of his experiences, both as an out patient and resident in NHS psychiatric units.

‘Byron Vincent is a regular at the nation’s most prestigious literary and music festivals. He has performed several times on television and national radio, including Channel 4’s Random Acts, Radio 4’s Bespoken Word and BBC 3’s The Verb. He was poet in residence for the South West of England for Apples and Snake’s groundbreaking poetry project My Place or Yours. His first collection Barking Doggerelwas released May 2010 by Nasty Little Press. He was co-founder, compere, producer and programmer for one of the UK’s most highly regarded Spoken Word nights at The Bristol Old Vic. Byron has worked as a writer and performer on several theatre projects including the RSC’s Midsummer Night’s Dreaming. He is also co-creator of bespoke story telling project Made Up, which in its first year won commissions from both MAYK’s Mayfest in Bristol and Escalator East in Norwich. Byron is a resident writer at Bristol’s Kill Your Darlings alongside Nathan Filer, Molly Naylor, Nikesh Shukla, Chelsey Flood and Tom Clutterbuck. He has recently written for The Guardian and Radio 4′s Four Thought.’